Sugar Shock
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: Despite what everyone else thinks, Akutsu is not the most dangerous person in Yamabuki. When Dan gets too much sugar, you don't want to be anywhere nearby.


Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: This idea came originally from the LJ-based rpg TenipuriU, where Dan has rather... interesting reactions to sugar.

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Sugar Shock  


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Though Rikkai was often mentioned as one of the most dangerous opponents when talking about the team as a whole, and Higa definitely if you were going for the whole Japan, when it came to the dubious honour of having the most dangerous individual in the team, nobody in Tokyo would question Yamabuki's claim to infamy. No other team in the city tournament could boast such a petty, unpredictable, aggressive, and just plain violent character as Akutsu Jin (and few would have wanted to). Even his own team, with a couple of less-than-sane exceptions, was terrified of him. 

Nevertheless, it was unanimously agreed upon never to be leaked outside Yamabuki, unless spreading the knowledge became necessary to save lives, that when it came to inspiring terror in your fellow Yamabukians, Akutsu was not the number one after all.

Dan Taichi was sweet, hard-working, and polite. Though he didn't play, himself, he was well known even in other schools for his cuteness and good behaviour. That such a character could actually dwell in the same team as the monster that was Akutsu was a miracle many could not comprehend.

The Yamabuki team all agreed that Dan was pretty much indispensable. Given that their coach, while certainly skilled, more often than not gave the majority of his attention to porn magazines instead of actually looking after team, it was often up to Dan to take care of the practical aspects of being a tennis team. Ordering the uniforms? Just ask Dan. Nets had to be replaced? Dan'll take care of it. Booking a bus to get the team to the tournament? No worries, Dan already did it. And he was happy to help.

All this made it even more impossible for the team to admit that sometimes, under certain circumstances, they would have taken Akutsu over Dan hands down. These circumstances usually involved a whole lot of sugar.

Yamabuki tennis club, while hard-working and skilled enough to make their way into the Nationals, had never been as strict as some of the other clubs. Therefore, on the rare occasion they actually had a practice camp, candy and ghost stories and generally having fun were as much a part of the official schedule as the actual training menu. And there was a lot of candy – to begin with, anyway.

As time passed, though, the candy grew less and less. They never paid much attention to exactly how the sugar was distributed among them, though it was clear that Dan ate more of it than any of his senpai-tachi. They allowed him this on the grounds of being the youngest (and cutest), and besides, when he looked at you with that big grin of his and said he was just doing his best to save the actual team from cavities desu there was no way anyone could have said no to him.

Later, they would come to regret this.

First, it was just fidgeting a bit, as though he was too restless to sit still. This was hardly anything new; Dan often had excessive energy as was evident in his constant skipping and bouncing. Oh, he didn't do it all the time, and mostly avoided it in the presence of other teams – then he was mostly just overly eager and a bit clumsy and simply adorable. The perfect little bubbly sugar-high boy to make up for Akutsu's unreliable delinquent nature.

They should have, of course, have thought of the fact that if someone seemed to be on a sugar high in their normal state, the said person's sugar high would likely be simply devastating. However, they did not. But they would learn.

After the fidgeting came the snickering. And not just at something funny, either; Dan snickered at almost everything anyone said. Then, he laughed.

Then, all of a sudden, too fast for anyone to stop the situation going form innocent to terrible, he was doing cartwheels across the room. By now Sengoku realized that Dan in his current state would definitely be dangerous to both himself and others. However, stopping him was apparently anything but easy.

After some time of futile chasing, Sengoku tripped over Muromachi. By the time he got on his feet again, Dan was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he spotted a rather baffled-looking Minami. "Oi, Kenta!" he shouted. "Where'd the kid go?"

"I think he headed outside," the captain replied. "Let's go."

Sengoku nodded in agreement. The two quickly made their way out of the cottage they were staying at during the camp – only to find Dan nowhere in sight.

"I'm sure he went out," Minami said, frowning. "Where could he have gone?"

Suddenly, Sengoku's ears caught a delighted giggle. "I think… up there." They both turned around to look, only to find their eyes widening with shock and fear alike. On top of the roof, at the highest point, stood Dan, apparently taking his sweet time admiring the view.

"Wow!" Dan exclaimed with an excited laugh. "I'm so high, it's amazing desu!"

Sengoku swallowed. Dan was indeed high. And the fall was long and hard and Dan was small and fragile. This could not end well. "Eh, so you are. Now, would you mind getting a bit lower? Preferably slowly?"

"Lower?" Even at this distance Sengoku could see Dan blinking confusedly at his suggestion. "But why? This is so much fun!"

"What are we going to do?" Minami fretted. "If we can't convince him to come down he'll eventually fall and get badly hurt. We have to do something!"

"Well, do something, then." Sengoku managed a weak grin. "You're the captain here; it's your job to give orders and solve the problems. I'm the one who's supposed to be worrying."

"Everyone knows it's this way only because you used your luck to get the position that involves less paperwork," muttered the captain. "If only Akutsu's agreed to come along, he could probably get Dan-kun to come down…"

"Huh? Akutsu?" Dan's eyes flew wide up on the roof. How he'd caught the word, given how quietly Minami had spoken, was beyond Sengoku. Then again, this was about Dan and Akutsu… Which in itself explained quite a lot. "Why are you talking about Akutsu-senpai?"

"Oh, no reason," Sengoku shouted up to him. "Minami just won't believe he doesn't like tall people because it unnerves him if someone's eyes are higher than his."

"Really?" Dan's voice sounded quite alarmed. "I didn't even know that desu! How can I have missed such an important piece of data? And – and – oh, gods! I must write it down desu!"

Sengoku grimaced, fighting the urge to cover his eyes to avoid seeing as Dan suddenly rushed towards the edge of the roof. Instead, he reached his arms towards the smaller boy. Minami couldn't look, turning away as Sengoku hurried closer.

Dan's foot slipped, and with a yelp, he fell. Fortunately, Sengoku got there just in time, catching the smaller boy in his arms. He fell to the ground, Dan on top of him.

"You idiot." Sengoku glared up at Dan. "You little, cute, self-destructive idiot…"

"Huh?" Dan blinked at him. "What do you mean, Sengoku-senpai desu?" And then, apparently not at all affected by this ordeal, he was suddenly on his feet again. "Gotta go record the data desu!" he exclaimed before vanishing.

Minami took his hand from before his eyes. "…Well, at least he got down," he said with a somewhat weak voice.

"Indeed," Sengoku replied. "How… lucky."

For a moment, they were both silent. Finally, though, the captain spoke.

"…Please tell me those aren't firecrackers I hear from inside the house."

Sengoku shook his head. "I've managed not to lie to you this far, Kenta, so I'd rather not start now."

The two boys glanced at each other and sighed. Obviously they had a long, long night ahead of themselves.

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In the end, Dan finally fell asleep. Well, it seemed more like his battery had run out – one moment he was bouncing around, energetic as ever, the next he lay curled up in a corner, sleeping like an angel. Except that an angel probably wouldn't have had people warily eyeing him every other minute to see whether he had waken up or whether they could still relax.

"Well, that was something," Muromachi muttered, glancing around. "At least everyone is still in one piece… I think."

"Not by far, though," Kita commented.

"Indeed." Nitobe nodded in agreement. "When he knocked over that bookshelf it almost broke the captain's skull open."

"Maybe he's trying to take over?" suggested Kita.

Ignoring the doubles two combination, Sengoku looked up, shuddering a bit. "…Those aren't footprints on the ceiling, are they?" he asked carefully.

Minami glanced up, too. "…Yes. I'm afraid they are."


End file.
